Icarus
by SwordDraconis113
Summary: Everything should have been over. The Reapers were dealt with, Shepard was dead. People had moved on in those six months. But something was stirring and Aria had unwittingly found herself in the middle of it by opening that damned crate. "Welcome back Commander Shepard." Aria/Shepard
1. Prologue

Icarus

Prologue

The pirate's ship had crashed. It was a wreckage. Nothing should have survived, yet Aria T'Loak found her boots toeing the still smouldering area. "I don't understand," she said, looking up to the turian merc leader annoyed. "Why the fuck am I here?" Her own personal guards wearily looked around. There was something unsettling in the air. Something that felt wrong.

It'd been barely six months since the reapers had left, Shepard dying in the process. The galaxy was celebrating and had finally taken. However, Omega was still in repairs and Aria had been downright busy before being pulled off-world to deal with this. Whatever _this _was.

The merc nodded to the crate, gesturing with his rifle. "We thought what was in that might interest you." Aria walked over to the metal crate. It'd be dragged away from the crash site, it's lid partially open. It was expensive and high tech. Whatever was in there seemed to need a lot of attention. "We've barely touched it since Cravis first looked inside. Only called in a doctor to scan over and make sure it was legitimate before we called you. It- she's still in a medical coma."

Raising a brow, she turned back to the crate and pushed the adjar lid off before looking inside. An immediate gasp came from her as she looked up at the mercs. "My my, you may have earned my favour this time Santious," she told them, impressed at their findings before being compelled to look back at contents of the crate.

A figure, stripped of clothing, appeared to be sleeping in a synthetic casing of her body. Needles ran over her spine, filled no doubt, with a concoction of medication that would wake her up.

Aria's eyes ran over the body. She was curled as though she were a child still in the womb, undisturbed and probably only mildly aware of what was happening. She was unmarked, her bare skin clean of any tattoos, scars or any markings. Her usual dark hair that Aria had been used to seeing pinned on top of her hair, curled around her, blanketing over her shoulders and most of her back.

"And you're sure she's not a clone?"

"As sure as we can be without further test. It's...strange. Data says she's not a clone, her genetic material is all organic and there's no usual markers of any cloning or genetic alterations."

"But?" Aria prodded, sounding impatient.

"But...everything states that she's only a few weeks old."

Her eyes flicked back to the body. "Wake her up."

"Are you-?"

"Just do it."

A salarian doctor walked over and immediately began fiddling with his omni-tool before swiping it over the crate. There was a hiss and the needles immediately released their contents into the spine. The figure gasped. Sitting up, she threw her head back and screamed eyes opening wide as pain convulsed through her.

Aria watched as the needles fell out, leaving little sign of being connected to the woman's spine.

"Commander Shepard," she said, moving to stand in front of the woman,

The woman fell limp back onto her knees. Breathing heavily, her hands clutched at her heart and stomach as she stared confused at Aria. She was terrified, that was easy to see, confused, in pain and...angry. Aria smirked, if it was a clone, it was a very good one.

"Do you understand me?" Aria asked, kneeling down in front of her.

The grey eyes, flickered unsteadily between Aria's curiously narrowed ones. Slowly, she licked her lips and tiredly dropped her arms to her lap as they began to shake. "Is that..." she asked softly, her voice hesitant, "my name?"


	2. One: Awoken

1.

Awoken

A blanket was cast over her before she was lifted out of the crate and placed onto her feet. Shepard stood, but only with the two of Aria's men holding on either arm to keep her steady.

"Commander Morrigan Shepard of the Alliance," Aria said, eyes running over the woman's form, half disbelieving at what she saw. "You're supposed to be dead."

"I feel pretty alive," she replied. There was a pause before her lips quirked. "I'm a commander?"

"You were." Turning, the asari placed a hand onto her hip and faced the mercenaries' leader. "What's a ship doing with what _appears_," she flicked her eyes back to the woman skeptically, "to be Shepard?"

"Beats me," the turian shrugged. "We were doing patrols and found the smoking wreckage. Whoever shot them down must have assumed they'd destroyed the crate. Usually a crash like that would have turned everything to like the wreckage, but the crate must have been reinforced."

"Or she was lucky. Shepard has a way of cheating death." Sighing, she motioned to the men, "escort her to the shuttle. We'll take her back to Omega and run some tests there."

"Like hell!" Morrigan bit back. "I'm not going anywhere."

Aria almost smiled. "Cute. You think you have a choice." Opening her omni-tool, Omega's de facto ruler typed into it briefly before looking back up at the merc. "Money has been deposited into your account. I'm certain you'll find that it's more than adequate for the exchange."

The turian nodded. "Pleasure as always," he said when a short _ping _signalled the currency transferral.

"I'm sure. I'll require all the data on Shepard of course, I rather have my own check through it," she smiled at the doctor, "I'm sure you understand."

The doctor nodded, typing into his omni-tool as he then processed the information over to Aria's.

No one had time to react until the incident was over. Within moments, Morrigan had elbowed both men holding her up and pulled their guns free from their sides, aiming one weapon at Aria, and the other at the closet merc. The reaction was immediate and instinctive as eight weapons found themselves targeted back at the commander.

The blanket had fallen off in the process, but adrenaline rushed through Morrigan's body, making the cold bearable as she scowled. "I'm not going anywhere," she repeated. "Now, someone tell me what the fuck is going on."

Aria sighed, knowing already that again, Shepard was going to cause trouble just by her mere existence. The woman _attracted_ intergalactic threat. No doubt, already, some danger had sensed her awakening and was currently making it's way to this solar system. "Put down the weapons and calm yourself Shepard. You may not remember but you and I go back."

The weapon hesitated before Morrigan's eyes hardened, "and how do I know that's not a trick?"

"You'll have to trust me."

"Not good enough."

Aria smirked, mildly amused. It'd been some time since someone had tried to aim a gun at her head. "Then trust this: if I wanted you dead, Shepard, you would be. Instead I'm _trying_ to take you back to Omega."

"Why?"

"Omega is my domain. If I'm to...care for you, then I would need to do it there." She watched as the index fingers moved off the trigger, resting against the side of the gun. "Put your weapons down, pick up your blanket, and I'll answer your questions."

"You seem to be doing well answering them now."

Aria wanted to rid herself of the already incoming headache. She'd forgotten what kind of effect Shepard had on her. "I'm starting to think you're more trouble than you're worth."

Morrigan didn't smirk. Her arms shook, mind began spinning dizzily and the asari noticed. Before she could speak or even begn thinking about a reply, her arms dropped the weapons, legs giving in as she crumbled down onto her knees and then unceremoniously to the ground.

Aria blinked. "And here I thought simply willing stuff to happen never worked."

"Over exertion, too much adrenaline in her veins mixed with unknown drugs probably created stress onto the body," the doctor spoke. "She will wake in a couple of hours unharmed. Bed rest, however, will be required afterwards until drugs have been flushed from the system. No strenuous activity for a week after that of course. Her muscles are new, with unknown limits. She should be careful."

"Noted," Aria muttered dryly before gesturing to her men. "Take her to the shuttle, at least she won't put up a fight this time. And cover her. I don't want her touched in any way," she warned. The men nodded, before kneeling down to pick up Shepard's body. "And don't think I've forgotten how easily she disarmed you two idiots."

Glaring, she cursed the woman and the headache she was causing. If that wasn't Shepard than whatever it was, was a damn good copy.

"You," she pointed to the doctor, "what's your name?"

"My name?"

"Yes, your name." She gritted her teeth and watched the salarian blinked, confused as to where the question was leading. No doubt his mind was going over possible scenarios.

"Oryn Horth." She turned to Bray, watching as the batarian flicked through his omni-tool before nodding at Aria.

"Expendable. Good," she murmured softly, pulling out her gun and shooting him directly in the head. She didn't wait for him to fall before shifting her glare to the mercs. "Any word gets out about Shepard and I'll know where to come looking. Understood?" The small group of mercs nodded nervously.

Before Aria left with the rest of her men, she ordered them to pick up the crate and wipe Oryn's omni-tool of any traces that could lead to Shepard. She didn't want anyone finding out about this until she was ready. "I'll trust you to get rid of the body?" she said to the turians, brow raised making it clear that there was no real question in the order. The mercs nodded again. "Good, then you and I don't have any problems when you're on Omega. Let's keep it that way."

At that, she left for the shuttle. A glance back wasn't necessary to know they were already disposing of the salarian. Even when she was off her own turf, people knew not to fuck with her.

Pleased with herself, Aria walked back to her shuttle. As she slid inside, she immediately sat down to see Shepard's relaxed face before her.

The men had laid Shepard down on the seat across from her, covering her with the blanket. Aria stared at the woman curiously, the pride washing away to doubt. Shepard had been gone for six months. They'd confirmed her death. Memorials were still playing across the galaxy, there were even reporters walking around places still trying to get an 'exclusive' about the galactic hero.

More than a few had unsuccessfully tried their way around Omega. And Aria didn't have time to deal with bullshit, especially not idiotic reporters thinking they're above even Omega's already loose social etiquettes.

Each one was _kindly _escorted off the space station. Just how kindly depended on what mood she was in, _if _they got near her.

Eventually they learned, but only for the moment. Aria had no doubt that they'd try again later when things had cooled down.

With Shepard though, Aria would have to be careful, lest any halfwit reporter with a cam stumbles across this Shepard and uploads the footage to every broadcast station in the galaxy, or worse, gets the council involved.

"You should have stayed dead," she breathed out quietly.

As they left the tiny dwarf planet, Aria found herself unable to look out at space and relax, or bury herself within necessary work. Her mind was troubled as she continued to watch Shepard sleep; her chest rising and falling softly with slow, heavy breaths beneath the blanket.

Her men knew better than to talk to her when she was deep in thought, and her expression certainly portrayed that. Eyes narrowed, lips thin and tight as she stared harshly. She was confused, and Aria didn't like being confused.

Morrigan Shepard's body was scarred. Gunshot wounds, surgery marks, stabbings, acid exposure, they were all in reports Aria had read up on the commander. But this Shepard was unmarked, from what Aria had seen, and she'd seen a great deal, the body was clean. No stretchmarks, no freckles, scars or blemishes. She was...new.

It was intriguing, however deeply unsettling it made her feel.

"Bray, when we arrive I want Jayne to do a full analysis of the crate. I need to know everything about it, specifically why Shepard was inside of it and who made it."

"Understood. And what do you want to do with Shepard?"

Her hands folded together, elbows resting on her knees as she thought over what to do. "Mordin's old assistant, Abrams, the human. I want him to look over her. His irrefutable _goodness_," she mocked,"and loyalty will keep his mouth shut. But she will stay with me. I don't trust anyone else with such a delicate matter."

"Of course."

Settled, Aria leant back and relaxed. Her mind was still reeling with the events that had befallen, but she had a beginning. All she had to do now was wait. When Shepard woke, she could begin questioning her until they arrived at Omega, then she'd be carted off to be examined by Mordin's assistant until she was satisfied that it was the real Shepard.

But as luck would have it, Morrigan woke up before 'a few' hours had passed. Aria looked away from her datapad to watch as the woman stirred beneath the blankets and slowly became aware.

"You shouldn't move around too much unless you wanted to collapse into unconsciousness again," Aria informed her before returning to the datapad.

"Screw you."

Aria's eyes narrowed, annoyed. "How eloquent." Tying up her work, she placed the datapad down and sat back in her seat to stare at Shepard. "How far back do you remember?"

"I remember waking up," she glared in return.

"Before that."

Morrigan shook her head, shoulders dropping as she finally relented. There was no use fighting the asari. No matter how much she denied it, a part of her, dare she admit, found herself oddly...connected to the woman. "There's nothing."

"That makes no sense. You can speak and understand me. You know how to use a gun if before meant anything. Surely you remember something."

Morrigan shook her head, "No, the gun was instinct. And I don't know how I..." she paused struggling to explain how she felt. "The shuttle is unfamiliar but not unsurprising. It's like I've read about it before but I've never _experienced _anything...does that make sense?" she looked up Aria, watching her fold her arms and shift her jaw.

"No."

She sighed, sitting up as she adjusted the blanket. "Okay, well, do you remember the last time you ate varren meat?"

"What does this have to do with anything?"

"Just go with it."

"Fine. No, I don't remember, I don't eat varren meat."

Morrigan smiled pleased that Aria was playing along, even if it only meant that she could explain her thoughts. "But you know it tastes bad. Instinctively. Because it's more than memory, it's knowledge_. _And you might be wrong, who knows, maybe varren meat doesn't taste that bad at all. Just that it ideally tastes bad. That's...kind of what it feels like." She rubbed at the back of her hand. "Sort of. It's complicated."

"You were starting to make sense and then you got lost there, didn't you?" Aria teased. "Regardless. I understand enough, commander, to know that if you don't have any memories then perhaps you're not you. Your memories, your _experiences, _as you said, are a large part of what shaped you, after all."

Morrigan's mouth parted only to close immediately. She didn't have a defense or even a witty remark for a reply. Avoiding eye contact, she stared out the window. "I don't want to think about that. That makes my head hurt. How can I not be me if I'm me?"

"Maybe you only think you're you because I told you you were."

"Now you're just fucking with me on purpose." Her eyes met the amused blue, watching as the woman smiled.

"I'll admit, it's amusing."

Sniffing, Morrigan sat back, shaking her head. "So what makes me so important that you'd pay a large sum to keep me? Are you in need of a new slave?"

The asari queen almost laughed at the ridiculous idea, "I have no need for slaves. Keeping them in line and loyal is a full time job, and I already have Omega. No, you're a very important person and if you're you, and I mean if you're _really _you, then I at least owe you this."

"You owe me?" Morrigan asked. Aria watched her puzzled expression twist before she pulled back and turned her expression to curiosity. No doubt she didn't like feeling exposed under the asari's scrutinizing stare.

"I owe you a debt, let's leave it at that for now. All answer will come in time, commander."

"I feel like you're using that title to mock me."

"You're an easy target."


End file.
